Preface

Letter from the Commissioner

To Our Residents and Public Health Partners:

The Connecticut Department of Public Health is pleased to present the Healthy Connecticut 2025 State Health Assessment. Subject matter experts from the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH), in collaboration with other state agencies, statewide partners and community organizations, have assembled data reflecting on the health and safety of Connecticut residents. The last such document was published in 2014.

The State Health Assessment establishes the health status of the state, and will inform the prioritization and development of the next Healthy Connecticut 2025 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). This plan will serve as a 5-year roadmap for promoting and advancing population health in our State. Statewide partners from the Connecticut Health Improvement Coalition, along with CT DPH, will begin the collaborative development of the SHIP in January 2020.

While Connecticut is a healthy state overall, this assessment highlights the challenges faced around achieving health equity for all our residents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to “attain his or her full health potential” and no one is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.” CT DPH is committed to enhancing health equity for our state; this document is an affirmation that equitable access to healthcare and addressing those social conditions that impact health is a basic human right.

The Healthy Connecticut 2025 initiative will focus on making the connection between social determinants and health outcomes. To experience success with these efforts we must prioritize examining the impact of social, behavioral and environmental factors on health to better inform policies and promote systemic change, while exploring collaborative place-based initiatives with our municipal and local health partners. It is our hope that we continue to work together to address the needs of Connecticut residents and afford every single person the opportunity to be as healthy as possible.

We look forward to collaborating with you in the future on this important work.

Sincerely,

J. Smith Commish, MD, MPH
Acting Commissioner